


The Light at the End of the Tunnel

by americanchemicals



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Anxiety, Assumed Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Major Character Injury, Misunderstandings, Slow Build, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-19
Updated: 2017-12-19
Packaged: 2019-02-17 05:08:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13069782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/americanchemicals/pseuds/americanchemicals
Summary: The Unsolved duo are investigating tunnels that are supposedly haunted, when things take an unexpected turn.





	The Light at the End of the Tunnel

"What's the likelihood that this thing collapses on us?" Shane questioned as they began to set up the cameras. 

"You really shouldn't say that after we get 100 yards into the tunnel," Ryan whined, and the taller laughed. 

"The tunnels are very stable, this isn't some run-down mine," the tour guide explained, munching on a candy bar. The teen looked overly bored, and he obviously didn't want to be there. But because the tunnels were now owned by a private company that did "haunted tours," they required a guide to go with them, for insurance purposes. Apparently way too many people had gotten lost or stuck in the winding tunnels, prompting a lot of money going in to rescue teams.

"You swear that nothing bad's going to happen?" TJ asked, but it was with a joking tone, obviously meant to further provoke Ryan.

"Dude, I'm certified in first aid, and I know this place like the back of my hand. I don't get paid $14 an hour to lose people in here or let them get hurt." The teen sounded increasingly annoyed, obviously used to being asked this question a lot.

"Why are you paid so much?" Shane said, changing out the batteries on the audio recorder.

"Because a lot of workers end up needing a lot of therapy after working here for too long," Afriel, the tour guide, laughed, crumbling his candy wrapper into a ball and shoving it into his backpack. 

"Therapy?" Ryan inquired nervously.

"Something about getting shoved and scratched, hearing voices and screams. Stereotypical spooky stuff." 

"I love it," Shane commented, before pulling Ryan into place so they could film the intro. The black-haired man did his best to keep his voice steady, but it was hard to hide how often he would cautiously glance at their surroundings.

"Nobody knows when the tunnels were built, but they were discovered on accident when a young boy was chasing after his dog in the 1970s. These tunnels go on endlessly for miles, and people that have gone in trying to find the end usually end up seriously injured before they can complete their efforts. These injuries range from hypothermia to broken bones, and in a few cases, people have died. It's very easy to get lost in here, and for that reason, the private company that owns the land have provided us with a tour guide."

The camera panned to a disinterested Afriel, who gave a disinterested wave.

"Afriel, what do the locals say about this tunnel?" Ryan asked, and the teen shrugged before giving a response.

"The local church says that at the end of the tunnels there's a portal to hell, which is why churchgoers shouldn't go here unless they want to be tempted by the Devil. Personally, as someone that has camped here for over a week, the spookiest thing that you'll come across tonight is an animal carcass."

"You've camped in here for over a week?" Shane spoke up.

"Yeah, me and some other tour guides over spring break."

"Did anyone get injured?" Ryan questioned, and Afriel shrugged again.

"Yeah, someone kept getting bloody noses." 

"There you have it, Ryan, the local has given you proof of all the ghosts that infest this place," Shane teased, and the shorter man gave him a glare. 

The duo then began to walk down through the tunnel, with the crew following a few feet behind them. Afriel walked behind everyone, and he was so quiet that it was like he wasn't even there. 

"Stop, did you hear that?" Ryan said suddenly. There was a rustling noise coming from around the corner in front of them, along with other noises that he couldn't really pinpoint. Shane slowly inched forward, having heard the noise too, when Afriel pushed in front of everyone, pulling out a handgun.

"Jesus Christ!" Shane exclaimed, and Afriel squinted a him, motioning for him to be quiet. Taking the flashlight out of Ryan's hand, (wait, did Afriel not carry a flashlight with him?) the teen walked around the corner. A loud bang went off, and everyone jumped. Afriel came back around a few moments later, his left hand gloved and holding up a dead raccoon. 

"Did you just kill that? Why do you have a gun?" TJ nearly shouted, and the teen fucking shrugged again. 

"All the tour guides have guns. This is Montana," Afriel replied, before setting the animal on the ground and pulling a garbage bag out of his backpack to put the raccoon in. He pulled his glove off and shoved it into the bag as well, before tying it and throwing it aside.

"You're just going to leave it there?" 

"Yeah, I'm not going to carry it all the way down and back. I'll pick it up on the way back." Then the teen went back to walking behind the crew, handing Ryan back his flashlight, and pulling out another candy bar to munch on. 

The two walked through the rest of the tunnel without much happening, the spirit box threw back nothing but white noise, and it didn't seem like anything interesting was going to happen. It was dead quiet, aside for their footsteps scraping against the rock floor, echoing off the bare walls. 

Eventually, Shane was getting bored. Nothing exciting was happening whatsoever, and even Ryan looked fairly calm despite the eerie silence. 

"I say we each walk down a stretch of tunnel alone for five minutes, to see if anything happens," he offered, and Ryan suddenly looked like he wanted to slap him. At the next corner, they dressed Shane up with a camera and audio recorder, and he went down first. Afriel had gone and sat down on the ground next to the crew, pulling out his phone. Trying to make light conversation to pass the time, Ryan asked the teen what he was doing.

"Looking at my boyfriend's nudes," he shrugged, and TJ choked on the water he was drinking. 

"Are you actually-" one of the crew members asked, and Afriel squinted at him, his face illuminated by the phone.

"No, I'm playing solitaire," he replied, and Ryan spared a glance at the screen. He was indeed just playing solitaire. 

"Boo!" a voice came from behind Ryan, and he jumped, slamming his body into the wall on accident.

"Shane, why would you do that?!" he yelled, shoving the brunet. The giant's lanky body shook with laughter, Shane wheezing as he tried to compose himself. 

"Your turn," TJ said, handing Ryan the audio recorder, unaffected by the prank. Shoving past Shane, he walked around the corner, doing his best to ignore the loud thumping in his chest. Shane's laughter eventually died down, followed by faint voices that echoed through the tunnels. As he got further from the crew, those eventually faded too, and Ryan realized he didn't know when he was supposed to turn around. Walking around another corner, he kept going, until something snagged on his shoe, and he tripped. Twisting so that he wouldn't fall on any of the expensive equipment, he dropped his flashlight, which went out completely after a few flickers. Grasping for it blindly in the dark, he found it, clicking the switch a few times, but it stayed off to no avail. 

The panic began to bubble up in Ryan's chest, his nerves tingling with anxiety. It was fine, he didn't need a flashlight. Afriel obviously didn't need a flashlight to get around this place, so why did he? He just had to get back up, and walk back to where the crew was. Moving to stand, pain shot up his right leg, his ankle giving out from underneath him. He didn't know what to do now. He was cloaked in complete darkness, and his eyes couldn't register anything. His arm hurt from where he had fallen, and it was definitely going to bruise the next morning, and he also couldn't walk at all. 

"Shane!" he called out, and was met with silence.

"Shane!" he cried again, this time louder. When he didn't get any response, he froze in place. Eventually they would come looking for him, right? They wouldn't just leave the tunnels without him. Hearing footsteps approaching him, but not seeing any light, his panic increased.

"Hello?" he spoke, and suddenly a hand clamped around his shoulder, prompting him to scream. 

"Hey, hey, calm down man," someone unfamiliar spoke, releasing his hand from his shoulder, "I'm a tour guide here."

"Do you have a flashlight?" 

"No?" 

"Why do none of you have flashlights?" Ryan asked, bewildered, and was met with silence, "Are you still there? I hurt my right ankle."

"Yeah, I'm still here. I can help you back to the main entrance, alright? My name's Ethan," the man said, hooking an arm around Ryan and under his arm, lifting him into a semi-standing position. All of the sudden, the sound of pounding footsteps filled the air, and light peeked out from around the corner. Thankfully, Ryan registered Shane's face, and the anxiety swimming through his head finally calmed down. 

"Ryan!" he yelled as he spotted him, skidding to a halt. The crew was right behind him, and then Afriel, who came around the corner in a casual stroll. 

"Hey," he said, and Shane fumbled with his hands, like he wasn't sure how to respond.

"Are you okay? You had been gone for like 15 minutes."

"I tripped and sprained my ankle or something," he said, motioning with his head to the person supporting him.

"Oh, hey babe," Afriel said, and it was probably the first time all night that Ryan had seen him smile. 

"I heard a gunshot and came down to see what it was when I found your friend here," Ethan smiled back at Afriel, "I didn't bring my first aid kit with me though, figured you had yours."

"Yeah," the teen replied, slinging his bag off his shoulder. Ethan helped Ryan back down to the floor, and Afriel carefully removed Ryan's shoe before going through with wrapping Ryan's foot. The crew went and removed the equipment off of Ryan in the meantime. 

"I'm surprised you didn't hear me when I was screaming," Ryan joked to Shane, and the taller man's already uneasy expression dropped even more. When Afriel was done wrapping his foot, he handed his backpack to Ethan, before squatting down in front of Ryan and grabbing his midsection, before effortlessly picking him up and flinging him over his shoulder.

"What're you doing?" he asked as the teen began to walk. 

"Well, we're two miles deep into the tunnel, which is a rough thirty minute walk without an injured ankle. Don't worry, I've done this before." And if Ryan hadn't been literally hanging off his shoulder, he probably would've shrugged.

Shane walked in silence, creepily close to Ryan, while the crew kept up a conversation about calling the directors at Buzzfeed about what happened once they got to the hotel. The shorter man almost expected the taller one to make a joke about how dumb he looked, or make fun of him for basically tripping on air because there was literally nothing in the tunnel to trip on, but he stayed completely quiet. Ryan wished he could see his face, so that he could better read what was going through the Sasquatch's head.

When they finally got to the main entrance, because according to Ethan there was more than one, Ryan was glad to be set down on the grass while someone went to get the rental car and bring it closer. Afriel pulled out an instant ice pack from his bag and was talking Ryan through RICE, while Shane loomed over him. 

-

Finally getting back to the hotel, with Shane awkwardly shuffling with him to their shared room, Ryan couldn't help but stare at how concerned Shane looked. As he sat down on the bed, he placed the ice pack on his ankle and propped it up on a pillow.

"I'm going to be okay, you know? It's going to take a few weeks to heal but I'm fine, really," he said, and Shane finally made eye contact with him.

"When the crew realized that it had been over five minutes, I was scared that some rabid animal had attacked you. When we were going through the tunnels and couldn't find you, I was just thinking about all the awful things that could've happened to you," Shane admitted in a small voice.

"Yeah, but Ethan found me, and then eventually you did too."

"I'm afraid of losing you," Shane whispered, breaking their eye contact. 

"Well, I'm afraid of losing you too, that's normal. But Shane, nothing bad happened, okay? Everyone's fine. I'm okay, you're okay, alright?" Ryan patted the bed, and Shane tentatively sat down next to him. 

"It's not normal. I've never been that scared ever before in my entire life. I've never felt this way for another person before, okay?" Shane countered, his voice rising, his tone almost defensive.

"I love you," he added, voice quiet once again.

"I love you, too."

But once the words left Ryan's mouth, Shane's head snapped towards him.

"What?!" The brunet stood up quickly, and Ryan gave him a puzzled look.

"We've been dating for like three months now, why are you acting so surprised?" 

"We're dating?!" Shane practically screamed. 

"Yes?" Ryan answered, but with the taller man's behavior he wasn't so sure anymore. 

"Ryan, we're not dating. What made you think that we were together? Because if it was the whole sharing a bed thing, that's a horrible assumption to make just off of that-" Shane started, but stopped immediately when Ryan burst into tears. 

"Ryan?"

"Can you just get out? I would, but like, my fucking ankle," he cried, burying his face in his hands.

"Wait, wait, I'm not opposed to dating you! I want to date you! I just don't understand how you thought we were dating, because I didn't realize that you had established us as a couple," Shane quickly backtracked, and the shorter man furiously wiped away his tears.

"Can you just kiss me? I'm really tired, it's been such a long day. We can talk more about this tomorrow, but I just want to cuddle and not think about how much my stupid ankle hurts."

"Yeah, okay, okay," Shane complied, carefully climbing next to him in the bed, pressing a kiss to the younger's lips before wrapping an arm around him. The two quickly fell asleep, basking in the other body's warmth.

And when TJ went to check on them the next morning, if he had caught them like that, maybe even snapping a photo as evidence, he kept that to himself. That was, until they got back to Los Angeles. Then it got sent to the whole office in a mass email. 

-

"I hate him," Ryan groaned as yet another coworker gave him a sly smile as they walked by his desk.

"At least people now know to not mess with what's mine," Shane teased, taking a sip from his coffee. Taking the mug from his boyfriend's hands, he finished the drink, giving the tall man a slight glare, but smiling nonetheless.  

**Author's Note:**

> the proper way to carry someone when they have a sprained ankle is a backpack carry but it's way too hard to describe in writing but basically you fling someone's arms over your shoulders and carry them like a backpack
> 
> not that anyone cares but I didn't become a certified lifeguard for nothing


End file.
